女权主义是指主要以女性经验为来源与动机的.社会理论与政治运动。在对社会关系进行批判之外，许多女性主义的支持者也着重于性别不平等的分析以及推动妇女的权利、利益与议题。那么，女权主义究竟是怎么诞生和发展起来的呢?下面这篇专八阅读理解带你走进女权主义的发展之路。
Students of United States history, seeking to identify the circumstances that encouraged the emergence of feminist movements, have thoroughly investigated the mid-nineteenth-century American economic and social conditions that affected the status of women. These historians, however, have analyzed less fully the development of specifically feminist ideas and activities during the same period. Furthermore, the ideological origins of feminism in the United States have been obscured because, even when historians did take into account those feminist ideas and activities occurring within the United States, they failed to recognize that feminism was then a truly international movement actually centered in Europe. American feminist activists who have been described as "solitary" and "individual theorists" were in reality connected to a movement -utopian socialism--which was already popularizing feminist ideas in Europe during the two decades that culminated inthe first women's rights conference held at Seneca Falls. New York, in 1848. Thus, a complete understanding of the origins and development of nineteenth-century feminism in the United Statesrequires that the geographical focus be widened to include Europe and that the detailed study already made of social conditions be expanded to include the ideological development of feminism.
The earliest and most popular of the utopian socialists were the Saint-Simonians. The specifically feminist part of Saint-Simonianism has, however, been less studied than the group's contribution toearly socialism. This is regrettable on two counts. By 1832 feminism was the central concern ofSaint-Simonianism and entirely absorbed its adherents' energy; hence, by ignoring its feminism. European historians have misunderstood Saint-Simonianism. Moreover, since many feminist ideascan be traced to Saint-Simonianism, European historians' appreciation of later feminism in Franceand the United States remained limited.
Saint-Simon's followers, many of whom were women, based their feminism on an interpretation ofhis project to reorganize the globe by replacing brute force with the rule of spiritual powers. Thenew world order would be ruled together by a male, to represent reflection, and a female, to represent sentiment. This complementarity reflects the fact that, while the Saint-Simonians did not reject the belief that there were innate differences between men and women, they nevertheless foresaw an equally important social and political role for both sexes in their Utopia.
Only a few Saint-Simonians opposed a definition of sexual equality based on gender distinction. This minority believed that individuals of both sexes were born similar in capacity and character, and they ascribed male-female differences to socialization and education. The envisioned result of both currents of thought, however, was that women would enter public life in the new age and that sexual equality would reward men as well as women with an improved way of life.
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